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Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Ann Taylor Factory Store

The sign has gone up on their new Austin St. location. For those not aware, this is where the former Ann Taylor used to be, on Austin near the corner of 71st/Continental. As I recently told someone on Twitter, apparently Forest Hills is about to be overrun by ladies named Ann Taylor. I wonder how long it takes them to make one? While, I'm on the topic, what exactly would I do with a lady named Ann Taylor? Do they specialize in anything in particular? How much do they go for? Help me out here...

Agreed! I'm so jealous not only of Steinway St., but most of the Astoria area. There are so many delicious food choices there, ranging from cheap food carts to high end trattoria's, and awesome Italian and Greek bakeries, that are reasonably priced I may add, not to mention gourmet specialty food stores and butchers....I so wish FH could become another version of that neighborhood, but alas, I can't imagine that happening anytime soon. One can dream though :)

Most of the independent restaurants are on or opening on Metropolitan Ave and Austin St is turning into the segmented strip mall of chain restaurants and stores. I think Astoria has some of the best meat markets, fisheries and bakeries in the borough but in the past twenty years Steinway Street has been a filthy mess and despite rents in the area doubling and tripling over the past decade it has not improved.

Chipotle is a QSR which is in the restaurant segment and is a franchise/chain. Buffallo Wild Wings is as well. Bareburger is a chain,along with Twist and Smash'd both offering franchising opportunities. Consider yourself enlightened.

Thank the greedy landlord, not the FHCC. Ann Taylor pays $30k a month rent there. Who else would be able to afford setting up shop there other than another national chain? Be grateful that a respectable chain decided to stick it out in FH and not flee leaving another empty storefront.

Does anyone honestly think that any of these " high end " shops like Taylor or Banana make any profit on Austin Street? They do very little business. They are there for marketing purposes only and can easily write off their losses with very little impact on the Corporation. Renting a storefront is cheaper than running a media ad or leasing a billboard.

I don't think Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, or any of the many other chain stores on Austin St. are high end at all. To the contrary, they are middle of the road shops that can be found in most shopping malls. I do agree that most of the residents in FH are working or middle class, and can better afford outlet and discount type stores. Most higher priced retail shops on Austin St. have closed due to lack of sales. Recently this has included the expensive children's wear shop, as well as Second Time Around. Both were trying to sell a price point that was too high for the neighborhood IMO.

Retail clothing is doing poorly overall, even in wealthy neighborhoods like West Broadway and UES, judging by the number of empty storefronts. And many people buy stuff online, which is why so many brick and mortar stores are closing.

I think that the original point was there is some advertising value to parking yourself in the middle of Austin street that helps to justify the existence of those stores on top of the modest profits they make.

Again, if they only make "modest profits" here, as you put it, then why would it matter to these retailers to advertise themselves to the local population? I would think they would fold up shop and relocate to a location where the local shoppers can—or have a chance in the future, after their lifelong dreams of success haven't been dashed to hell — afford them.

If, as the original commenter said. no one in the Forest Hills or this Queens area is ever going to be able to afford them to begin with, then both the marketing value of having a storefront, and the cost of having a store and employees selling merchandise here would be all for nothing. Or, is this theory based on the assumption that the handful of upper crust Tennis Club members walking by is enough to justify having a store?

The theory doesn't make sense.

And furthermore, how about inviting a little reality into the conversation? Of course, there are local residents, many of whom have been living here for years and years, who may not be able to afford these stores. But a huge number of, especially new, more affluent, young residents, can easily afford these stores.

So the theory not only doesn't make sense, but it is based on a version of Forest Hills that simply doesn't exist: that it is comprised mostly of struggling, working class people. Simply not the case. This area has a huge amount of wealth and the local population has a tremendous amount of spending power, which is why these retailers choose to open here.

Drake, I very respectfully disagree with some of your opinions. The greatest amount of wealth is in Forest Hills Gardens, whereas Forest Hills not so much. To my knowledge, the majority of young, affluent folks, making six figure and up salaries, are choosing the Long Island City and Astoria region of Queens to reside in. To the contrary, I've noticed a great deal of older retired folks, many empty nesters and divorced/widowed buying co-op's in Forest Hills because of the overall affordability and convenience. Most of these people are on a fixed income, social security and pension, etc. There are of course younger people buying co-op's in our neighborhood too, but again, the majority are working and middle class folks, making under six figure incomes, and needing an affordable place to live.

People making higher salaries are probably choosing to shop more in the city. I agree with the other poster that these stores are not making a tremendous amount of profits. They have decent sized spaces but they don't offer as extensive of selections as their locations elsewhere. Just because you price your merchandise higher doesn't make you high end.

1) In regards to Ann Taylor Factory Outlet, if you do a little research on the company's business model you'll note that recent restructuring has been focused on the expansion of both LOFT Outlet and Ann Taylor Factory outlet stores. If anyone pays attention to the market, it's been well voiced over the past year how retailers have been struggling. Ann is no exception. The flagship stores represent less than 25% of the companies sales. They need to make changes.

Both Loft Outlet and Ann Taylor Factory stores have a positive outlook for the company. Ann Taylor operates as the Corporations "luxury" brand. Factory operates under what they call their "affordable luxury brand".

I agree that Ann Taylor sticking with our neighborhood is a good sign, and between Loft and Factory, they'll continue to have a strong presence.

2) Saying that Ann Taylor is the "Luxury" Division of the Corporation needs to be put into perspective. Ann Taylor's competition includes Jones, Talbots and Banana Republic. IMO, Luxury in this instance is a very loose term with prices generally ranging from $30 - $400 for an item. I agree with Drake that there is wealth within Forest Hills, but we also need to keep in mind that our neighborhood is a shopping destination due to easy subway access. Forest Hills residents alone aren't the sole target.

I shop at Banana Republic. Because it's now an Ann Taylor Factory store, I might check it out. I would have preferred J Crew factory store instead. At least it's not an empty store front. What's up with construction down the block that's suppose to be an urgent care clinic? It looks like they stripped construction.

In regards to the income comments , I definitely believe Forest hills is changing in that there are more younger people with good jobs moving here. Our household income is just over 100k and we are under 30 (barely). Quite honestly, 100k doesn't cut it in many parts of this city anymore. For instance, to rent a 3k apartment, you need a bare minimum income of 120k, or you cant even be considered. I think more and more people are going to flock to places like forest hills, that are on the subway and you can find a 1 BR apartment for under 2k!

I always thought the Ann Taylor store looked sad and neglected when I went in. I walked by the factory store and just based on how it looks so far, it seems as though they are putting in more effort into it. I don't care what they call it, I'm just looking for some reasonable places to shop for women's clothes in FH.

I went into AT Factory outlet today. I was surprised by the selection. Other similar stores tend to carry end of the season clothes at a discounted rate. This store has future season at 50% off, so we shall see how it does. The AT store was overpriced compared with the same store on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. Due to volume, the manhattan store offered better prices even if the rent was higher.